> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://the-generalist.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Just go vote, etc. - URL: https://the-generalist.ghost.io/just-go-vote-etc/ - Published: 2026-11-02T20:22:43.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-02T20:58:05.000Z - Description: And some thoughts to share with anyone who doesn't understand why some people are so hard on a certain POTUS. - Author: Patrick Donnelly - Tags: politics, Facebook uncles, inalienable rights I said when I launched this thing that I wouldn't get political very often, but I guess the day before Election Day is as good a time as any for a post that's an exception proving the rule. As much as I like going to the polls on the first Tuesday of November and soaking in the patriotic thrill of seeing my neighbors participating in the most basic act of democracy – one we should never take for granted – we voted on Friday because who knows what kind of shenanigans we might see at the polls tomorrow. I really don't care who you vote for – well, OK, I do, but more important, I support everyone's right to vote for candidates who align with their values. Just get out there and vote. Exercise the right that millions of others around the world don't have, the right for which women and minorities in this country had to shed blood and tears to access. Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but every election now seems more crucial than the one that came before it. Nobody can afford to sit this one out. Get out there and let your voice be heard. --- A few weeks back, I came across a comment on Facebook from a friend of a friend who said something about not understanding how so many people could be so angry about one politician – the current POTUS, naturally. And I get it. Not everyone follows politics or the news super closely. And many who do follow it get their information from sources that don't even try to tell all sides of a story. They watch political ads filled with half-truths that go unanswered by their targets. They see TV "news" programs engage in bad-faith attacks on anyone not marching in lockstep with their corporate owners' goals. And when they see people sharing facts that make Trump look bad, I suppose it's natural for them to think, "Well, that can't be true – I would have heard about it if it were." (There's also the cognitive dissonance of hearing awful things about someone they supported. As the saying goes, it's easier to fool a person than to get them to admit they'd been fooled. That's why all that "fake news" crap works so well. But that's a topic for another time.) Keeping all that in mind, I respectfully replied with short summaries of just three pretty simple black-and-white issues that should trouble all Americans. There are countless others, of course. As we head into the holidays, you might find yourself celebrating with family members who are similarly aligned to this friend of a friend – the classic "Facebook uncle" who has blindly supported Trump for a decade, for example. Feel free to dust these off and share them as necessary. 1\. He promised to release the Epstein files. Then when he had a chance to do so, he claimed there was nothing to see there. We all know if the files exonerated him, he would release every page and never stop talking about how exonerated he was, how he was the most exonerated person ever and how "perfect" his relationship with Epstein was. And to counter the usual comebacks, no, Biden couldn't have released the files because Maxwell's appeal was ongoing while he was in office. And no, Democrats actually would not mind if Democrats were implicated in the files. A pedophile is a pedophile no matter how they vote, and we want them all behind bars. Trump doesn't. 2\. After years of telling us that "Russia-gate" was a hoax and that he was in no way under Putin's thumb, he's now supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. He unilaterally decided we should side with a longtime enemy rather than with an ally trying to defend its sovereign borders. 3\. He bulldozed the East Wing of the White House without approval. It's not his house. It's the people's house. But he continues to do whatever he wants without asking permission, or if he gets a court order to cease and desist, he ignores it (e.g. his newest obsession, a golf course in DC). This behavior ranges from problematic to treasonous, and it's all conduct that would have conservatives in if an uproar if it'd been done by a Democrat. As well it should. But since Trump did it, his supporters act like it's OK or even admirable to protect pedophiles, kiss up to Putin and swing his wrecking ball wherever he wants. And that's probably why we hate him the most – why we "have a hard on for one guy" as the friend of a friend put it. Because it's so sad to see what his "leadership" has done to this country. How it's encouraged otherwise smart, kind, caring people to embrace or at least rationalize corruption, arrogance, cruelty and lies – so many lies. Behavior and language no one would tolerate out of their child. And now we have a clear, public display of his mental decompensation in every public appearance, completely ignored by his supporters. (Yes, the Dems tried to ignore Biden's decline too. How did that work out for them?) We see it. We see it all. And we thought our friends and family would be able to see it too. Maybe we're just mad that we were wrong about them, and we're taking it out on the guy who made it clear just *how* wrong we were. --- One final note: A writer I follow on Substack put it a bit more profanely than I would normally do here, but I want to share her post because it really hammers home the points that have made the Trump presidency – and especially the last two years – so stomach-churning. Here's a sample: > For the fear. For the exhaustion. For making eight billion people live with the consequences of your enormous fucking ego. For taking the presidency of the United States and making it all about you. Your insecurities, your grudges, your endless need for attention, and your absolute inability to stand not being the center of everything. > For the way you've made it acceptable to be cruel, to be ignorant, to lie through your fucking teeth and never have to answer for any of it. For the constant threats, insults, and humiliations that have become so routine we barely have time to be horrified by one before you've given us another. > For a man so incredibly small, you've managed to make yourself the entire world's problem. And I am so goddamn tired of watching everyone else pay the price for it. Happy Election Day. [Fuck You, Donald Trump.Fuck you, Donald Trump.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d5/5f/d55f7f93-1c82-4c17-bb6a-1e45e9fda0a0/content/images/icon/https-3A-2F-2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com-2Fpublic-2Fimages-2Fc1900460-4511-4c94-abfa-8d8d94faa303-2Ffavicon-48x48-779cd6ce-721c-4e66-a1e1-0d5172a31ed3.jpg)Judith DayalJudith Dayal![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d5/5f/d55f7f93-1c82-4c17-bb6a-1e45e9fda0a0/content/images/thumbnail/https-3A-2F-2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com-2Fpublic-2Fimages-2Fea469c39-5755-45dd-843e-ec0228accc7e_1079x1588-5a146f46-d1fb-442f-9fbb-ebd19e65d1c4.jpg)](https://judithdayal.substack.com/p/fuck-you-donald-trump?utm%5Fsource=post-email-title&publication%5Fid=4836820&post%5Fid=222858487&utm%5Fcampaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=29pl8&triedRedirect=true&utm%5Fmedium=email)